Page 22 of The Payment

“And you are sure we can trust that motherfucker?”

“Trust?”Jarek barked out a laugh.“In our world?Hell, no, but I trust his love of money.He knows exactly what happens to traitors—and to their loved ones..”

“Ah, the golden handcuffs.”Declan nodded.“Still—”

“Still nothing.”Jarek cut him off.“Money is power.It buys loyalty, silence, and information.I have built my empire on that truth.Gregor is slowly learning just how powerful money can be when it turns against you.”

His phone buzzed again.It was another message from Tatiana.This time, he couldn’t stop himself from glancing at it.That small gesture didn’t escape Declan's notice.

“Just be careful, boss.Love can blind even the smartest men.”

“Love?”Jarek's expression turned to stone.“You’re delusional and very close to overstepping the line, Declan.This meeting is over.Get those Morrison Tech numbers to legal.”

Alone in his office, Jarek allowed himself one moment of honesty.Declan was a brave man who had faced death more times than he could count.He was also more astute than Jarek liked about what Tatiana made him feel.

“Except I’m not going to allow emotions to fuck up my vengeance.Having a happy life and a family with Gregor Polov’s most prized granddaughter is exactly what will completely break him.That’s the payment and what this is all about.Nothing more.Nothing less.”

Picking up his phone, his thumb hovered over the message notification.His eyes darkened as he stared at the two message notifications.He never hesitated like this—not over business deals, not over ordering hits, or anything in his life.Yet here he was, fighting an urge to read her words immediately.

“Pathetic,” he growled, disgusted with his own weakness as he opened the messages.The first was curt, businesslike: “Meeting with Harrison at 2.The TAP United Logistics deed transfer requires your signature.”

The second made his chest tighten: “Unless you’re too busy destroying what’s left of my grandfather’s empire.”

Jarek set the phone down carefully, too carefully.The bitter edge in her words shouldn’t affect him.This was exactly what he had wanted—her anger and her hatred.It made dealing with the situation simpler.Cleaner.

Walking to the bar, he poured himself two fingers of scotch.

“Well, it’s fucking midday somewhere in the world,” he muttered.It was barely past ten in the morning.The amber liquid caught the morning light as he swirled it, remembering how she had looked that day when he showed her the new headquarters for the first time.For a brief moment, he had seen genuine excitement in her eyes as she walked through the space he had designed specifically for her.

“It meant nothing,” he said as he stared out of the window.The city sprawled below—his city, built on calculated moves and cold precision.Not on feelings.Never on feelings.

His phone buzzed again.A third message: “The new headquarters was a nice touch,husband.Another chess move to showcase your power?”

The word ‘husband’ hit him like a physical blow.He had married her for revenge.But that building...he had spent hours with the architects, ensuring every detail would please her.That hadn’t been about revenge.That had been something else entirely.He frowned as he thought it through.It was born of a grand desire to see genuine joy light up those azure eyes, to prove he could give her more than her grandfather ever had.He had chosen the south-facing windows because she once mentioned loving morning light.

Every decision, from the marble imported from the same Italian quarry she had used in the Atlanta building to the custom security system that would keep her safe without making her feel caged.All of them had been driven by an impulse he refused to name.He had told himself it was about maintaining the demand for payment and playing the devoted husband as he had promised.But late at night, reviewing plans until his eyes burned, he now knew the truth.He wanted to give her something that was purely hers, untainted by their families’ war.A place that could be her sanctuary, her strength, her future—with or without him.

It was the first time over the past twenty years that he had built something not for power or profit but for the simple hope of seeing someone else’s happiness.The realization made him uncomfortable, but although he had proclaimed her as collateral in this war with Gregor, she was still the innocent party...and a beautiful, sensual, seductive woman.

“Fucking hell,” he said in a clipped voice as he downed the scotch in one swallow before typing a curt reply: “2 p.m.I'll be there.”

Short.Professional.Nothing like the words fighting to get out, nothing like the urge to tell her how he had watched her that day, mapping every smile and every gesture of approval as she had toured her new domain.

He set the phone face down on the desk and opened the Morrison Tech files.“Get your fucking head out of the clouds, Farrel.”Apart from pulling off this deal, he also had another blow to strike against Gregor that needed his attention.He couldn’t afford to let blue eyes and soft skin distract him from victory when it was so close.

But even as he immersed himself in acquisition strategies and profit margins, annoyingly, a part of him counted the hours until two o’clock.

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